scholarly journals Imagine avoidance: Induction of conditioned avoidance via mental imagery

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angelos-Miltiadis Krypotos ◽  
Gaëtan Mertens ◽  
Arne Leer ◽  
Iris Engelhard
Keyword(s):  
Mental Disorders ◽  
Mental Imagery ◽  
Conditioned Avoidance ◽  
Neutral Stimulus ◽  
Direct Experience ◽  
Shock Experiment ◽  
Diagnostic Criterion

Excessive avoidance is a key diagnostic criterion across mental disorders. Theoretical modelsargue that such avoidance is acquired via direct experience, instructions, or social observation.Here, we investigated whether avoidance can also be acquired via mental imagery. Participantslearned to associate a neutral stimulus (A+) with a shock and two other neutral stimuli (B-, C-)without shock. Afterwards, they learned to avoid A+ but not C- Then, they imagined that Bwouldbe followed by the shock (Experiment 1; ! = 66) or they imagined a shock while B- waspresented (Experiment 2; ! = 60). Results showed that when participants were afterwardspresented with unreinforced presentations of A+, B-, or C-, they tended to avoid B- if they wereinstructed to imagine the B- together with the shock but not when they imagined the shock alone.We extend on how our findings could explain the acquisition of excessive avoidance.

scholarly journals Mental imagery in psychiatry: conceptual & clinical implications

CNS Spectrums ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 114-126 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie L. Ji ◽  
David J. Kavanagh ◽  
Emily A. Holmes ◽  
Colin MacLeod ◽  
Martina Di Simplicio
Keyword(s):  
Mental Disorders ◽  
Mental Imagery ◽  
Treatment Decision ◽  
Emotional States ◽  
Transdiagnostic Treatment ◽  
Treatment Decision Making ◽  
Behavioral Dysfunction ◽  
Self Harm ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Linguistic Cognition

Mental imagery refers to the experience of perception in the absence of external sensory input. Deficits in the ability to generate mental imagery or to distinguish it from actual sensory perception are linked to neurocognitive conditions such as dementia and schizophrenia, respectively. However, the importance of mental imagery to psychiatry extends beyond neurocognitive impairment. Mental imagery has a stronger link to emotion than verbal-linguistic cognition, serving to maintain and amplify emotional states, with downstream impacts on motivation and behavior. As a result, anomalies in the occurrence of emotion-laden mental imagery has transdiagnostic significance for emotion, motivation, and behavioral dysfunction across mental disorders. This review aims to demonstrate the conceptual and clinical significance of mental imagery in psychiatry through examples of mood and anxiety disorders, self-harm and suicidality, and addiction. We contend that focusing on mental imagery assessment in research and clinical practice can increase our understanding of the cognitive basis of psychopathology in mental disorders, with the potential to drive the development of algorithms to aid treatment decision-making and inform transdiagnostic treatment innovation.

scholarly journals Mental Imagery and its Relevance for Psychopathology and Psychological Treatment in Children and Adolescents: a Systematic Review

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 303-327
Author(s):  
Susan Schwarz ◽  
Dörte Grasmann ◽  
Franziska Schreiber ◽  
Ulrich Stangier
Keyword(s):  
Mental Disorders ◽  
Mental Imagery ◽  
Developmental Stages ◽  
Psychological Treatment ◽  
Data Extraction ◽  
Rational Emotive Therapy ◽  
Imagery Rehearsal Therapy ◽  
Current State ◽  
State Of Research ◽  
And Behavior

Abstract This review provides an overview of the current state of research concerning the role of mental imagery (MI) in mental disorders and evaluates treatment methods for changing MI in childhood. A systematic literature search using PubMed/Medline, Web of Science, and PsycINFO from 1872 to September 2020 was conducted. Fourteen studies were identified investigating MI, and fourteen studies were included referring to interventions for changing MI. Data from the included studies was entered into a data extraction sheet. The methodological quality was then evaluated. MI in childhood is vivid, frequent, and has a significant influence on cognitions and behavior in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), social anxiety disorder (SAD), and depression. The imagery’s perspective might mediate the effect of MI on the intensity of anxiety. Imagery rescripting, emotive imagery, imagery rehearsal therapy, and rational-emotive therapy with imagery were found to have significant effects on symptoms of anxiety disorders and nightmares. In childhood, MI seems to contribute to the maintenance of SAD, PTSD, and depression. If adapted to the developmental stages of children, interventions targeting MI are effective in the treatment of mental disorders.

scholarly journals Induction of conditioned avoidance via mental imagery

2020 ◽  
Vol 132 ◽  
pp. 103652 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angelos-Militaris Krypotos ◽  
Gaëtan Mertens ◽  
Arne Leer ◽  
Iris M. Engelhard
Keyword(s):  
Mental Imagery ◽  
Conditioned Avoidance

scholarly journals Mental Imagery in Early Psychosis

2021 ◽  
pp. 027623662110217
Author(s):  
Laura Auvinen-Lintunen ◽  
Tuula Ilonen ◽  
Tuula Kieseppä ◽  
Jaana Suvisaari ◽  
Maija Lindgren
Keyword(s):  
Mental Disorders ◽  
Cognitive Performance ◽  
Mental Imagery ◽  
Visual Imagery ◽  
Early Psychosis ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Recent Onset ◽  
Affective Symptoms ◽  
Cross Sectional Design

Dysfunction in mental imagery may contribute to the development of mental disorders. We studied the vividness and controllability of mental imagery in a sample of 42 individuals with recent-onset psychosis, using a cross sectional design. Contrary to earlier studies, the claim that mental imagery is enhanced and the controllability weak in psychotic disorder was not supported. Especially the negative and affective symptoms associated with low vividness, and the stronger the symptoms the patients had, the less vivid was their imagery. Anxiety and self-neglect were the best predictors of low vividness. Only an elevated mood associated with higher vividness. The cognitive performance of the participants did not associate significantly with imagery. Surprisingly, organic modality was reported to be the most vivid modality, whereas visual imagery was the least vivid. Understanding the role of mental imagery in early psychosis may help us to understand and treat these disorders better.

Reductionist thinking and animal models in neuropsychiatric research

2019 ◽  
Vol 42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicole M. Baran
Keyword(s):  
Animal Models ◽  
Mental Disorders ◽  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Neuropsychiatric Disorders ◽  
Model Organisms ◽  
Developmental Genetic ◽  
Term Study ◽  
Genetic And Environmental Factors ◽  
Mechanisms Of Plasticity

AbstractReductionist thinking in neuroscience is manifest in the widespread use of animal models of neuropsychiatric disorders. Broader investigations of diverse behaviors in non-model organisms and longer-term study of the mechanisms of plasticity will yield fundamental insights into the neurobiological, developmental, genetic, and environmental factors contributing to the “massively multifactorial system networks” which go awry in mental disorders.

Mental imagery and intraoral local anesthesia

1984 ◽  
Vol 48 (12) ◽  
pp. 653-658
Author(s):  
MM Walsh ◽  
R Hannebrink ◽  
B Heckman
Keyword(s):  
Local Anesthesia ◽  
Mental Imagery

The Effects of a Neutral Stimulus (Buzzer) on Motor Responses and Disfluencies in Normal Speakers

1969 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 179-184 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard R. Martin ◽  
Gerald M. Siegel
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Neutral Stimulus ◽  
Motor Responses ◽  
Control Subjects ◽  
And Control ◽  
Speaking Task

Seventy-two college students were divided into three groups: Button Push-Speech (BP-S), Speech-Button Push (S-BP), and Control. BP-S subjects pushed one of two buttons on signal for 8 min. During the last 4 min, depression of the criterion button caused a buzzer to sound. After the button-push task, subjects spoke spontaneously for 30 min. During the last 20 min, the buzzer was presented contingent upon each disfluency. S-BP subjects were run under the same procedures, but the order of button-push and speech tasks was reversed. Control subjects followed the same procedures as S-BP subjects, but no buzzer signal was presented at any time. Both S-BP and BP-S subjects emitted significantly fewer disfluencies during the last 20 min (Conditioning) than during the first 10 min (Baserate) of the speaking task. The frequency of disfluencies for Control subjects did not change significantly from Baserate to Conditioning. In none of the three groups did the frequency of pushes on the criterion button change significantly from minute to minute throughout the 8-min button-push session.

Assessing Mental and Behavioral Disorder Impairment: Overview of Sixth Edition Approaches

2008 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Norma Leclair ◽  
Steve Leclair ◽  
Robert Barth
Keyword(s):  
Mental Disorders ◽  
Behavioral Disorders ◽  
Psychotic Disorders ◽  
Behavioral Disorder ◽  
Behavioral Impairment ◽  
Central Nervous System Damage ◽  
Brain Functioning ◽  
Sixth Edition ◽  
Diagnostic And Statistical Manual ◽  
Mental And Behavioral Disorders

Abstract Chapter 14, Mental and Behavioral Disorders, in the AMA Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment (AMA Guides), Sixth Edition, defines a process for assessing permanent impairment, including providing numeric ratings, for persons with specific mental and behavioral disorders. These mental disorders are limited to mood disorders, anxiety disorders, and psychotic disorders, and this chapter focuses on the evaluation of brain functioning and its effects on behavior in the absence of evident traumatic or disease-related objective central nervous system damage. This article poses and answers questions about the sixth edition. For example, this is the first since the second edition (1984) that provides a numeric impairment rating, and this edition establishes a standard, uniform template to translate human trauma or disease into a percentage of whole person impairment. Persons who conduct independent mental and behavioral evaluation using this chapter should be trained in psychiatry or psychology; other users should be experienced in psychiatric or psychological evaluations and should have expertise in the diagnosis and treatment of mental and behavioral disorders. The critical first step in determining a mental or behavioral impairment rating is to document the existence of a definitive diagnosis based on the current edition of the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. The article also enumerates the psychiatric disorders that are considered ratable in the sixth edition, addresses use of the sixth edition during independent medical evaluations, and answers additional questions.

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